About the High School Huddle

Welcome to the Citizen-Times' constantly-updated blog for Western North Carolina high school sports. Features include breaking news, scores and stats, college recruiting updates and live blogs from some of the marquee games in WNC. Readers are encouraged to comment on posts, but personal attacks on current athletes, coaches and their families will not be tolerated and are subject to edit or removal at the moderator's discretion.

Buncombe County football made the wrong kind of history this season in the NCHSAA playoffs.

A Buncombe team has failed to make it to tonight’s third round for the first time since the number of postseason divisions was increased to eight in 2002.

But across the county, it’s not all doom and gloom.

Christ School (12-0) is standing on the precipice of Buncombe’s first-ever state championship in private-school football.

The Greenies host Davidson Day (10-2) tonight in the NCISAA Division II title game at Fayssoux Field.

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

“It’s the only thing people are talking about on campus,” senior running back/defensive back Charles Beale said.

“It’s a buzz, a great feeling. This is something that the seniors will never get to feel again and it may be the only time that any of us play in a state-championship game.”

The NCHSAA uses vacuous ACC football stadiums at North Carolina, N.C. State and Wake Forest as neutral sites for its state-championship games. But in the past, the preference went to the higher-seeded team.

The NCISAA, which has its home offices here in Asheville, still adheres to that policy.

Christ School is the Carolina Piedmont Football Conference champion and has already set a school-record for single-season wins. The Greenies have previously been a state-runner up in 1976 and 1977.

Asheville School lost in last year’s NCISAA Division II championship game to First Assembly Christian, 14-10.

“No question, it’s truly been a special year here,” Christ School coach Mark Moroz said.

“Our guys have taken care of business all season long. We’ve had some great senior leaders. I’ve been coaching football for a while and this is one of the most complete teams I’ve ever coached.”

Owen’s first conference-championship soccer season in 22 years has been richly rewarded.

Special thanks to Warhorses coach Tate MacQueen for this information regarding the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association 2-A all-region team and All-Western Highlands Conference team which have not yet been released in full by either organization:

Madison football fans have something to live up to Friday at Roberts Stadium.

Second-year coach Lance Ware told The Shelby Star that he expects “a hostile atmosphere” when he brings Shelby (8-5) to Marshall for the second round of the NCHSAA 2-A playoffs:

“We’re going into a hostile atmosphere that’s going to be a lot like the Pisgah game in 2006. We’re looking forward to the opportunity. We’re not taking anything for granted, it’s a special time of the year to be playing and our kids are excited.”

Davidson Day junior Will Grier and the Patriots (10-2) will play Christ School (13-0) for the NCISAA Division II football championship on Friday at 6 p.m. in Arden.

Grier threw for 837 yards in last week’s 104-80 semifinal win over Harrells Christian, but the performance will likely never be recognized as a national record despite the fact that it is superior to the existing mark (764 yards).

From MaxPreps:

From ecstasy to gloom.

Last Friday, junior quarterback Will Grier surpassed the national record by passing for a phenomenal 837 yards as Davidson Day (Davidson, N.C.) outlasted Harrells Christian (Harrells, N.C.) 104-80 in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association state semifinals.

This week, however, it was revealed that his record will likely never be recognized by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Associate director John Gillis told MaxPreps today that records are only listed in the national book if a member state accepts them, and the North Carolina High School Athletic Association does not recognize any efforts recorded by a member of the NCISAA.

For more on this story, go here and additional background on the story can be found here.

Notes: Five football teams from Western North Carolina are left in the NCHSAA playoffs. But only one is in uncharted territory. Madison and Deryck Hilemon (8.8 tackles a game) have used their first-ever postseason win (Mountain Heritage) and second (Owen) to stretch their school record for single-season wins. Juniors Tyler Rogers (1,500 yards and 16 touchdowns with seven interceptions) and Cole Cuthbertson (33 receptions for 880 yards and 10 touchdowns) were co-winners of the Citizen-Times/Western North Carolina Player of the Week award after connecting for both their team’s touchdown passes (27 and 71 yards) last Friday. Madison’s offense is rounded out by leading rushers Tyler Hoffman (1,283 yards, 15 touchdowns) and Hilemon (918 yards, 12 touchdowns). Hilemon, Daniel Nash (6.1 tackles per game), Derrick English (5.9), Dillon Hilemon (5.5) and Quentin Heflin (5.0) and the rest of the defense have held the Patriots’ last seven opponents to single-digits in scoring. Shelby has lost 17 games the past three seasons, but the Golden Lions are one of North Carolina’s most decorated programs in the state with four state championships since 1972. Furthermore, the Cleveland County program is 13-0 against WNC teams in the NCHSAA playoffs since 2000. Shelby’s roster includes Shrine Bowl offensive lineman Eric McCauley and a quarterback nearing 2,000 yards, fellow senior Spencer Clark (1,962 yards and 12 touchdowns with 10 interceptions). Leading rusher Raekwon Washington (1,043 yards, 10 touchdowns) sat out last Friday’s game with a shoulder injury and his status is unknown for tonight.

Notes: Surprise, surprise, another Smoky Mountain Conference rematch for Murphy. The NCHSAA pod system groups playoff teams by geography and has turned the postseason into a veritable SMC tournament for the defending 1-A state champion Bulldogs and Gaige Cox (1,126 yards, 14 touchdowns). Tonight is their 13th playoff game in the past three years and six of them have come against SMC teams. Cox, who is a sophomore, became Murphy’s first 1,000-yard player for this season last Friday. His quarterback, Michael Curry (841 yards and 12 touchdowns with four interceptions), threw his latest two touchdowns to Brice McKeon (22 receptions for 454 yards and eight touchdowns) last Friday. David Gentry remains the winningest coach in WNC history (331 career victories) and watched Murphy beat Rosman, 55-21, on Sept. 14 in Transylvania County. Duran Scruggs (1,459 yards, 18 touchdowns) and the Tigers have ended their streak of 11 straight losing seasons. How effective is the Rosman offense with Scruggs and Blaise McCall (659 yards, nine touchdowns) as its lynchpins? Scruggs averages just 3.5 pass attempts a game and did not put any balls in the air last Friday at Elkin. Leading tacklers for the Tigers are Josh Diaz (59) and Christian Davis (55). Third-year coach Freddie Whitman and his teams have won 16 games, four times as many (four) as the Tigers did between 2007 and 2009. This is Rosman’s deepest playoff run in nine years.

Notes: Homefield advantage never felt so good. Christ School football’s first state-championship game appearance in 35 years comes tonight under the lights at Fayssoux Field, a modern touch which was added earlier this year. The Greenies were previously state runners-up in 1976 and 1977. Christian Jewkes (1,435 yards and 22 touchdowns with five interceptions), Charles Beale (1,508 yards, 21 touchdowns) and the rest of the Christ School offense have scored 50 or more points in three consecutive games. Leading tackler Gabe deBeus (6.8 a game) will join them in the Nov. 24 Oasis Shriners All-Star game in Charlotte. Second-year coach Mark Moroz is scheduled to head up the North Carolina roster in that exhibition is now 20-2 at Christ School. Besides deBeus, his top defenders this fall have been Jack Bonds (6.1 tackles per game) and Beale (4.6). Eric Davis has snared a team-high seven interceptions and should be part of a busy secondary tonight with Davidson Day junior Will Grier (5,294 yards and 64 touchdowns with six interceptions) coming to town. Grier set a school record for single-game passing (837 yards) in last week’s semifinal win over Harrells Christian. The National Federation of State High School Associations has said in recent days that it does not recognize performances by NCISAA athletes even though Grier’s yardage is superior to its national record (764 yards). Grier holds scholarship offers from East Carolina, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Wake Forest. His favorite receivers have been Aaron Seward (63 receptions for 1,724 yards and 24 touchdowns), Jordan Young (61 receptions for 968 yards and nine touchdowns) and Evan Gates (70 receptions for 888 yards and seven touchdowns). Grier is also the Patriots’ leading rusher with 767 yards and seven touchdowns. Tonight’s game will be streamed live online at www.christschool.org and broadcast outside the area by Time Warner Cable.

Swain County coach Neil Blankenship does not partake in scoreboard watching.

But while the Maroon Devils (13-0) were wrapping up their 25th straight win last Friday, it is safe to assume that others were keeping tabs on what was going on in Henderson County.

Were the updates coming in as furiously as Hendersonville’s rally?

Fat chance, the Bearcats (12-1) overcame a 34-7 halftime deficit to overtake Lake Norman Charter, 48-40, in the second round of the NCHSAA 1-AA football playoffs.

It took such a miraculous comeback to assure tonight’s third-round matchup between a pair of Western North Carolina conference champions at Deitz Field.

Kickoff is set for 7:30.

“I think (Hendersonville coach B.J. Laughter) found out a lot about his team last week,” Blankenship said.

“They could have rolled over and quit, but they didn’t. It says a lot about the character of their team. They are very talented, too, and they present a lot of obstacles for us.”

Will any lead be safe tonight in just the third football game between Hendersonville and Swain County since 2000?

Remember, the Maroon Devils were down 28-0 after the first quarter of last year’s 1-AA Western Regional championship game before storming back to beat West Montgomery, 37-35. A week later, they were state champions for the eighth time in school history.

“Any time you do something like that, it’s something you can hang your hat on,” Laughter said of his team’s week-old comeback.

“I was proud to see that kind of resilience and you hope it carries over. If things go bad, you can tell the kids that we’ve done this before. And if we get ahead, you can point to what happened (for Lake Norman Charter). I think we can definitely use it either way.”

Swain County senior Matthew Maennle became just the third Smoky Mountain Conference player to make 20 or touchdown receptions in a season last Friday.

Maennle and fellow senior Greg Tisho (49 receptions for 1,097 yards and 16 touchdowns) have caught their passes this season from junior Raymius Smith (2,200 yards and 35 touchdowns with seven interceptions).

Leading rusher Garrett Lane (913 yards, 17 touchdowns) has only carried the ball nine times since rolling his ankle at Murphy on Oct. 26, but the Maroon Devils have largely run the ball by committee since then.

The SMC champions have put up so many touchdowns out of the veer offense that kicker Colyn Petty has already set a single-season school record for extra points (72).

“(Swain County) is very balanced, they can do it all,” Laughter said.

“They can run it and they’ve got a quarterback that can pose a threat by throwing deep or shallow.”

Laughter said he was most impressed with the Maroon Devils defense, a unit led by Corbin Panther (4.7 tackles a game), Payton Parker (4.2) and Jacob Wildcatt (3.3).

Swain County is allowing just 9.3 points a game, but gave up three touchdowns to East Henderson in a 28-21 win on Aug. 17. Coincidentally, East Henderson is the only team to beat Hendersonville (43-33 on Aug. 31).

The Bearcats and Desean Jackson (2,171 yards, 29 touchdowns) were 7-0 in the Western Highlands Conference.

Grant Rivers (1,700 passing yards, 995 rushing yards, 31 combined touchdowns) is one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the mountains and has a Shrine Bowl receiver in fellow senior D.J. Wilson (40 receptions for 943 yards and 10 touchdowns).

Hendersonville was No. 5 in the season’s final Associated Press 1-A rankings, while Swain County spent all but one week at No. 1.

“Any time you have a running back with over 2,000 yards, it’s pretty special,” Blankenship said.

“And Rivers is a phenomenal runner, so Hendersonville really has two good running backs. D.J. Wilson has done an outstanding job for them, too.”

Laughter said that his injured leading tackler, Landon Blythe (7.7 per game), is doubtful for tonight which would put more of the onus on Jackson (5.4), Cavon Scott (4.6) and Matthew Parce (4.2).

Hendersonville and Swain County last met in 2010, with the Maroon Devils taking a 30-7 playoff win in Bryson City. Prior to that, the two teams had not met since they were together in a former version of the Smoky Mountain Conference.

Laughter has participated in the series as a Bearcats player, assistant coach and now head coach.

“We’ve had some great battles with Swain,” he said.

“That’s a football town up there. Everybody is football smart and knows what it takes. Their whole community is behind them and it’s going to be a tall order to go up there and play.”

HENDERSONVILLE AT SWAIN COUNTY

Kickoff: 7:30 tonight.

Pick: Swain County by 1.

COMING TONIGHT: Log onto CITIZEN-TIMES.com/hshuddle for a live blog from the Hendersonville-Swain County football game.